Lithium Ion Battery

[gbrettin]

Anyone out there dd'ing a reasonably priced lithium ion battery? I need some pro's and con's.

200 bucks or so would be my target:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/br...yWJxoCSI7w_wcB

This is too damn expensive:
Amazon.com: Braille Battery ML14C 12 Volt Lithium Carbon Battery: Automotive

thanks guys/gals.

[gbrettin]

There's no cheap option for lithium ion batteries right now. I ended up buying a 425 cranking amp lead acid battery that weighs 22lbs, its pretty small. That set me back 130 bucks so its not surprising there isn't an option for lithium ion around 200.

AutoCraft Gold Battery, Group Size 151R, 340 CCA 151R: Search no more for the best at Advance Auto Parts

To make the battery stay in place I ended up drilling out the pinch weld on the angle bracket located on the battery bar. I then positioned the angle bracket forward until the battery was snug between the two brackets and marked the new location. The bracket was re-welded and then painted. Results below:

[2011 Nismo#91]

I would not get a Li battery for a car not built for it. The car's charging system is a very basic one and not a complex charging system that a Li battery would require. Lead Acid batteries can take a lot of abuse while a Li battery is very fragile and sensitive to almost everything (high temps, low temps, charging rate, discharging rate, and aging).

[Wonka2581]

Originally Posted by 2011 Nismo#91

I would not get a Li battery for a car not built for it. The car's charging system is a very basic one and not a complex charging system that a Li battery would require. Lead Acid batteries can take a lot of abuse while a Li battery is very fragile and sensitive to almost everything (high temps, low temps, charging rate, discharging rate, and aging).

Yup... hes right... have you ever seen a Li battery blow up?
its pretty damn impressive...

[gbrettin]

Thanks guys. That is definitely a huge con...

I'm that much more happy with my Autocraft battery now.

[1slow370]

Originally Posted by Wonka2581

Yup... hes right... have you ever seen a Li battery blow up?
its pretty damn impressive...

The reason the automotive Li batteries are so expensive is because they contain the charging and maintenance system for the battery inside. You aren't just buying a battery you are buying the charger and everything for it too all in one case. There are some pretty good, light ones for cheaper but not cheap, especially in the size you need for a DD. the confusing them about them though is because the voltage delivery is sooo different that the capacity ratings don't really convert between them too well.

xs power, litiumpros, and antigravity batteries make good stuff.

[2011 Nismo#91]

No batteries from those sites are for general purpose automotive use. The closest are 4xspower which only have a race battery, they actually list their supplementary audio battery for our car??. Every other battery is for marine, motorcycle, or supplementary use, basicly nothing that you'll be keeping the battery out in a cold winter. Li batts have bad cycling issues, the more you use it the less capacity it will have, after a year of daily use you'll lose a large fraction of the overall storage capacity. None of these batteries have a heating or cooling system to maintain the correct operating or storage temps, our engine bays get very hot in traffic near 100C and this winter there were a number of -10C days both of which would be detrimental to a li battery. And hopefully no one will get into a collision that would damage the battery case on a rainy day, potential for a massive fire/explosion from all that lithium. They can be used for track days thats it and thats a big price tag for just track days.

[1slow370]

2-3 hundred bucks for a 3lb battery is not bad, the antigravity ones are pretty cheap but they have got a lower capacity (and are kind of hit and miss sometimes) than the lithiumpros which are 800-1000 but are top notch. It's not unheard of for one of these guys running 3-5years in a daily use situtation, because the life of a lithium battery is bad, but no where near as bad as a lead acid battery.

[SouthArk370Z]

Li-ion batteries are fantastic in the right application (eg, long time between charges, weight is critical). As has been pointed out, a DD is not the right application. There are other not-as-heavy-as-Pb-acid batteries that will work better.

But a Li-ion will work, so if that's what you want, go for it. Just be aware that it's gonna be expensive - both short-term (high initial cost) and long-term (frequent replacements).

Edit: I like gbrettin's solution - just use a smaller Pb-acid battery. With VVEL, fuel injection, &c, it doesn't take a big battery to start a Z.

[Tadpole]

What happened to the optima gel batteries? Still a good option?

[Masterbeatty]

Originally Posted by Tadpole

What happened to the optima gel batteries? Still a good option?

I had the same yellow top for two cars. I had it for around 7 yrs and no problems. The only reason I got rid of it was because I forgot to take it out when I traded my Altima coupe in for my Z. Otherwise I would still have it.

[lj909]

Hey all, thread resurrection time!

I wanted to add to this since some yrs have gone by and prices and tech change.

I ended up buying a Deltran Battery Tender LiFeP04. It's a lithium iron battery. Touted as being safe and is what's used in all EV vehicles.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00F9...der&th=1&psc=1

I found it on Amazon.com for $209, weighs 3.4lbs, has 460cca

I'll have it on a tender cuz I don't always drive my Z. I weighed my OEM battery at 39.2lbs. I could feel the weight loss when i took it out for a short drive. It cranked my Z up with ease right out of the box. Now time to get myself a proper mount! Ha Ha

[Cyber370]

Just be careful which battery you choose. Today's cars have a lot of electronic systems that become very unhappy when you use the wrong battery. Believe me, I have worked on a lot of modern or fairly modern cars (C5, C6, Cadillac, etc), and a large portion of electronic gremlins were always traced down to a weak or wrong battery. Even while running, the electronic systems expect the right battery power to work properly or they start doing weird things. Granted, I never worked on a 370Z but I doubt it's much different than most cars. It just depends on how sensitive the electronics are to voltage/amperage fluctuations.

Just my 2 cents.

[lj909]

Thanx. I know what your saying, i work with low voltage myself and yeah, weird things can happen. That's one of the good things about lithium batteries is they hold solid voltage and output till there discharged

[phunk]

I am curious how this battery will work out for you long term. To save 30+ lb is epic.. and thats a relatively high up location in regards to the center of gravity to have such great savings.